Wabash overcame a slow start to battle to a 63-60 victory over Rose-Hulman Wednesday night at Chadwick Court. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Little Giants, and was the first win over the Fighting Engineers since a 73-70 victory in 1998.
The Little Giant took a 3-0 lead on a three-pointer by Chase Haltom just over a minute into the contest. Rose tied the game 40 seconds later, eventually taking a 13-point lead, thanks to good ball movement and tight defense by the Engineers in addition to poor shooting by Wabash. The Little Giants only hit seven out of 25 shot attempts in the first period to trail 32-21 at the break. (View photos from the game.)
Rose stretched its lead to 15 points over the first five minutes of the second half before the Little Giants began chipping away on the scoreboard.
Trailing by 12 points with under seven minutes to play, sophomore Aaron Brock scored the next four points for the Little Giants. From the point senior co-captain Andrew Zimmer took on the scoring load. The All-American center connected on a jump shot and two free throws, capping an 8-0 run that drew Wabash to within three points. Fellow senior Gary Simkus answered an Engineer free throw with another basket for a 55-57 Rose lead with 2:59 remaining.
Earl Rooks, the third senior member of the squad, brought the Little Giants even with a drive along the right baseline, pulling up for a 10-foot jumper to knot the game at 57-57. After another Wabash defensive stop kept Rose from taking another lead, Zimmer was fouled going the basket. He hit both free throws to put Wabash up by two with 41 seconds left on the game clock.
The Engineers missed another shot that fell into the waiting hands of Zimmer for his 11th rebound of the night. A quick foul by Rose sent the senior back to the free throw line, where he connected on two more shots for the biggest Wabash lead of the night at 61-57.
The Little Giants would need every point. Rose ended another 8-0 Wabash run with a three-pointer by Phil Sundling with five seconds left on the clock. After a Rose timeout, the Engineers nearly stole the inbound pass, but fouled freshman Wes Smith as he battled for the loose basketball. Smith drilled two free throws to put Wabash up by three. The Engineers threw a length-of-the-floor pass that went out of bounds, ending an hope of a last-second attempt to tie the game.
Zimmer finished with his first double-double of the season, scoring 22 points to go along with his 11 rebounds. He also had three of Wabash’s nine blocked shots. Haltom, Brock, and Andy Root each tossed in eight points. Simkus scored six points and had four blocked shots. Ron George and Jared Moore each had 16 points to lead Rose-Hulman.
Wabash (2-2) will begin North Coast Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon with a 3 p.m. tipoff at Kenyon College.
Photos - (top right) Andrew Zimmer battles for a loose ball.
(bottom left) Wes Smith throws down this slam dunk for two of his six points.